Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-04-23
THE SHOTGUN ct ARD.
4 CONVERSATION RELATIVE TO The
EXPLOITS or HIGetWAYMEN.

= CONVERSATION RELATIVE TO TAE
4 EXPLOITS OF HIGt-WAYMEN.
How Road Agent, Attack a >tag--Tr,-
ing &" the Nerves OF til. ,.uard-I.t-
, tiers at Warnins-A Case "i Total Col
, lapse.
When the treasure box came in on the
Dradwo"d stage the other day the mem
, ber> Of the shotgun guard carried it into
thr express car snd >it down by its side
There were three nf them The box had
sl"'w@ in bullion in il. and as usual a
/. crowd assembled /" look Al il and at the
men having II i'll charge A. there was
,n hour before The train would start. the
rr"wd and the guard fell into u convcrsa-
hon relative t" train and stage robheries
After some of the exploits of hishwavmen
Ju the Hills road had been referred to-
Bill Dunn. one Of the shotgun men said a:
Il see that there is = heap ut talk in the
papers about the Cowardice ~ men who
happen to he mixed up in tu~Sle> with the
agents. Now. this i all very funny when
N"u are l,DD miles away from them and
luur miles of you. but the thing takes on
different aspect when yuu are within
ramGr. never WAS in IA hpld up bul
. bncr. but have Sr-n more than ON. time
when felt aS thauSh wnuld likt. [" get
out and walk ami let the box 20 The
fact that Nnu have - much money in your
Keeping l. ri itself enough 10 make YOU
nervous in - country like this ~ rule
when agents attack treasure coach or
train they a4. ~ you before YOU know it,
. Then you can Ighr or die Just rs You
| please. The times that make Your shirt
| collar wilt are when YOU have reason to
believe that yOu are to he attacked and
| Yet are not attacked
LUTrtI:s OF WARNING.
/ When | carried gun on the Sidney
ruutr there was Il month at one time that
| never left Dradwood without having re
ccived letter notifying me that | was 10
DE held up on that trip. Sometimes got
the warning through the the postofiice
once | received il in Sidney. and several
! times il WAS pushed under my door at my
boarding house when | was asleep In
some of the letters the writer assumed TO
be the rObher, and he always wound up
his warning with the words: SO look out,
III have the box, and | may have you
Others Of them, though they were all
written in the same hand, came ostensibly
trom others parties. who pretended TO
have only my interest at heart2 OF course
| knew that that was dangerous road,
and II was my business To shoot and be
shot; but after this sort OF thing had been
kept up for fortnight or 50 | began to
get nervous. | found that every time |
Il . 4. l.
nerves i'll cun,litiOn, and on inquiring the
value Of the box | came 10 feel sort Of
r'lief when il was comparatively small
The thing WAS wearing on ME, and at last
| got 50 | thought | could tell how
strangers oui here, who came west with
exaggerated ideas Of the dangers to be ell
cuuntered. felt when they found their
fears realized. Now. I'll tell you some
thing that was never told Yet.
After ! had been getting these warn
ings for about three or four weeks left
Deadwood one day with box worth
$500, 900. As soon as heard the value Of
the bullion the perspiration came out on
me, for, | thought to myself these cut
throats always know when there is big
treasure aboard, and this is their meat
II made me mad TO find myself so nervous,
because the fact is never yet ran, and |
don't think | ever will, and l walked
around little while trying 10 get my
grip. The fact of the matter was l wasn't
well. The work had been heavy, and my
anxiety had upset ME. But when it came
time 10 start | put on a reckless air, and
getting up in front with the driver bade
the boys goOd-by and we drove off.
4 TOTAL COLLAPSE.
"The roads were heavy, and before we
reached the first station. where we were
to pass the night, it was dark. Some of
you may know what darkness in western
Nebraska was in those days. We had
about three miles to travel before hauling
up for the night, and Parker, the driver,
and | were straining our eyes to see the
light, when, with sudden yell at the
horses he pulled them up on their launches
and Shrieked in my ear: What's that,
Well. now. at the instant that he iirst
yelled there was II crack like rifle, and /
heard il as well as he. Ii may seem
highly ridiculous. and SO il was, but the
minute that he shrieked | just dropped of
the coach like a log, shotgun and ali.
How il happened cannot tell TO this day.
Ii was total collapse. l had no power
over myself. and, what is more, when |
1Ollill NStli Ill lHt lluu almost ulltr
the horses heels could not rise am
free To admit that if ali agent had shown
up just then | would have caved. He
could have anything that he wanted.
The driver got down after little and
helped me up. By that time he was con-
WINGED that there were no rObDers around,
and ON reassuriug HE we went back 4
little ways and found that the report
which We had heard had come from the
breaking Of II dry limb over which the
coach had run. | knew that if that thing
got out il would ruin me in the business,
and | fixed it up with the driver 50 that
We agreed Ia say nothing about il. After
that "trip took rest for few DAYS, and
when felt better | went back TO work,
and haven't fallen of from anything
since, Since then, also, | have made il a
point never 10 think much about agents.
II don't do you any good, and il may do
You harm And that's why never make
any remarks when | hear of tenderfoot
IN Il huld-up rushing around and insisting
that the agent shall take some things
which he never asks for. He simply can
not control himself He has fallen off the
box SO TO speak, and needs rest and recu-
peratiOn dakota Cor. New York sun.
Friends, citizens, countrymen: Hear
me for my cause, and be silent that you
may hear " Now before .Iupifpr TonanS